You clearly put a lot of effort into the opening theme songs of your anime, and it really shows. For example, in Yuruyuri, Mitsudomoe, and Kotoura-san, the openings are all custom-written to prominently feature the titles of the anime in the lyrics. Not many other directors go out of their way to put this level of attention into their theme songs; why is it important to you?

I loved YuruYuri, and my favorite part was how strong it's characters were. Was there any real life base for the characters, or their relationships (ex: Yui and Kyouko being childhood friends, or Ayano liking Kyouko)? Or were they all forged solely within your mind?

Yuru yuri was overall an amusing, funny, and enjoyable anime and I found Akari's lack of presence to be one of the most hilarious points of the show. She didn't really "mind" that fact that she was being ignored and teased by her friends even though it is truly a sad situation. However, during the 2nd season's 11th episode, Akari gets sent off by a broken time machine and returns later on in the episode. I was expecting another one of those \ AKKARIN / jokes, but instead, all her friends were worried about her and cried.

This scene was one of my favorites and it really amazed me to the extent that it made me cry! This was certainly unexpected because Yuru yuri was suppose to give laughable moments and happy feelings in general.

Was there a past experience in your life (perhaps similar to Akari's?) that inspired you to make this episode extremely moving, tear-jerking, yet sweet?